There is something about a carefully and aesthetically pleasingly illuminated garden at night that makes it a completely different place to the garden you enjoy during the day. Outdoor garden lighting can bring a garden to life after the sun has set and it takes on a whole new aspect.

Careful and artful garden illumination can pay dividends when done with an artistic flair and a knowledge of what works. You can be rewarded with a truly beautiful night time garden that will be the envy of your neighbors and an inspiration to all who lay eyes upon it during the hours of darkness.

This hub looks at some of the ways in which ou8tdoor garden lighting can be made the most of to create an evening paradise of tranquility and repose where you can spend your down time relaxing and enjoying a very special place of your very own.

Where to Place Garden Lights

First of all, you need to take into consideration your own garden and how it looks now, then imagine what you would like it toi look like when the lights are installed and switched on. It usually helps to draw a rough diagram on paper to help you to identify the key points of interest in the garden and those that you want to enhance maybe with spotlighting or other form of outdoor accent lighting.

Key interest points in a garden can include a particular ornamental tree or shrub, a statue or sculpture, a waterfall, fountain or fish pond or other water feature, an architecturally interesting outbuilding such as an ornate gazebo, or a certain quiet area with a bench surrounded by flowering shrubs or framed with overhanging branches or climbing plants such as roses on a pergola.

You can place outdoor pole lights in areas that need more overhead light such as the defining edges of patios or alongside steps to improve night time safety.

Types of Outdoor Garden Lighting

There are several types of outdoor garden lighting that will suit many different designs of gardens. First you'll need to decide what your garden requires in the way of lighting to suit its particular layout and design.

Then you'll need to work out what types of lights you want for your garden. Here are some examples:

Solar Outdoor Lighting

This is the best form of lighting if you are more ecologically inclined and want to save on the Earth's resources. Solar outdoor lighting for the garden is a perfect match of clean, renewable energy to provide light right where it's needed. The majority of solar powered garden lights have a daylight sensor so they automatically switch themselves on when it gets dark, then off again when it gets light in the morning. They need to sit in a sunny place so they can recharge throughput the daytime.

Outdoor Landscape Lighting

This is the type of lighting that is created to enhance those special features of your garden as already mentioned in a previous paragraph. An outdoor landscape lighting system will usually consist of a combination of spotlights and strategically placed low power, or low voltage landscape lighting with different colored lights to create a visual impact for your chosen center piece and satellite features. Upward facing spotlights highlight trees or ornamental shrubs as well as sculptures and architecturally interesting structures, while soft, colored lighting will bring out pergolas and ornamentals.

Outdoor Lanterns

Lanterns and similar outdoor hanging lighting fixtures create a festive feel to a garden or can produce an oriental theme such as in Japanese ornamental or water gardens.

Outdoor Tree Lighting

This is a specific type of garden illumination designed to enhance the appearance of ornamental trees and large shrubs with a combination of upwards facing and side facing spotlights to bring to life a gardens arboreal features.

Outdoor Rope Lights

These are really easy to put up in your garden and look great, especially when you're planning a party or barbecue and you need to bring more light into the garden or patio area. They come in varying lengths and are generally a wired train of LED lights that are plastic sheathed to protect them from dampness.Outdoor string lights are similar although are more suited to festive occasions like Christmas.

Outdoor Pole Lights

These are perfect for creating elevated lighting and come in many forms and designs such as the outdoor antique lighting look of late 19th century street lamps or more contemporary outdoorlighting styles to add chic and interest to your garden area.